CHICAGO — Advocates are calling on the city’s library system to create better protocols for dealing with threats — particularly as Chicago-area libraries have seen bomb threats.
Banned Books Week is being observed through Saturday and comes after last year saw a record number of efforts to ban books — and as city and suburban libraries have seen threats in recent weeks.
While Illinois passed a law in June outlawing book bans in public libraries, a recent rash of bomb threats at Chicago-area libraries, including Chicago Public Library branches, has library workers and community members concerned. Advocates are calling on the city’s library system to have better protocols for dealing with such threats.
“It’s not going away,” said Beth, a Chicago Public Library associate. “We absolutely should take it seriously. I think people need to understand that library workers are dealing with a lot and it’s taking a toll on our mental health.”
On Sept. 12, a bomb threat was sent via email to a library worker at Harold Washington Library in The Loop, one of several received by Chicagoland libraries that day. Libraries in suburban Aurora, Evanston and Schaumburg also got threats.
Amy, a Chicago public librarian, said most library staff and patrons were not aware of the threat until the Police Department bomb squad and canine units conducted a sweep of the building that afternoon and determined the threat unfounded.
Library workers only received an email about the incident from Chris Brown, Chicago Public Library commissioner, at 7:18 p.m. that evening, according to an email forwarded to Block Club.
“At that point, people were upset because they saw all these libraries closing in response to the threats, and our library did not close,” said Jo, a Chicago public librarian.
The names of all three Chicago Public Library workers Block Club spoke to for this story have been changed, as the city’s library system does not permit library workers to speak to the press, the workers said. Chicago Public Library administration did not respond to requests for comment.
Two days later, on Sept. 14, Chicago Public Library facilities received an active shooter threat and a bomb threat. Harold Washington Library was evacuated. Chicago Public Library officials said in a statement they had closed all branches out of an abundance of caution, but workers who spoke with Block Club said some branches were never made aware of the closure.
The libraries were reopened after officials deemed the threats unfounded, according to emails sent by Chicago Public Library brass.
Although those threats were unfounded, the incidents have made it clear Chicago Public Libraries is not immune to the hostility impacting such facilities around the country, Amy said. More has to be done to communicate library staff, they said.
“One of the biggest things [Chicago Public Library] specifically needs to work on is the way they communicate with staff,” Amy said. “Right now, they are working with a very triangular organizational chart, and the front-line workers are the last to know.”
Anders Lindall, director of Public Affairs for AFSCME Council 31, which represents library workers statewide, said that when threats were received in September, communication from administration “was haphazard and confusing, leading to rumors and concern.”
Lindall said in an email that officials have improved communication and their response in the weeks since, including providing training from the Police Department.
That training was conducted by the police bomb squad, who talked to workers about what they look for, how they assess a threat and what to do in such a situation, Amy said.
“More recently, administration has shared information transparently and worked to include input from the local union in developing its plans,” Lindall wrote in the email. “It’s important that the union continue to have a seat at the table in developing policies and procedures related to these threats in particular and all health and safety issues in general.”
The issue of library safety comes to Chicago following more than a year of increasing right-wing efforts to ban books and threats against libraries for the literature they stock and the events they hold.
Other parts of Illinois have seen library threats, too. On Sept. 22, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield was evacuated due to a bomb threat.
“Any attempt to threaten our libraries, which are really vital centers of information, of community and of learning, should be rightfully understood as nothing less than an attempt to silence our democracy,” Lindall said. “These threats in Chicago, the suburbs and elsewhere have unfolded in the context of larger targeting for libraries for book bans, for protests over programming, for divisive politicization of what is a bulwark of our democracy, the public library and the open exchange of ideas and information.”
Joanna Broussard, president of Friends of the Edgewater Library branch, said she sees any threat to the library as having far-reaching implications and impact.
“Threats come in lots of different ways: physical threats, banning books, whatever the case might be,” she said. “When people want to interfere with the pursuit of knowledge, it’s a threat to everybody, and so part of our job is just to be vigilant.”
Beverly resident and former public librarian Ashley Rayner visits her local library roughly once a week. The library is a vital third space for kids, giving them a spot where they can explore and socialize, said Rayner, a parent. The recent threats are a way to make people feel scared to visit a community space, but they also make her want to stay connected and support the library more, Rayner said.
“It’s terrorism, plain and simple,” she said. “I don’t want to be afraid in the places that I frequent. I wouldn’t let something like that stop me, but it is upsetting, and I worry about the people that work there.”
There has been an increase in anxiety among library workers, Amy said. That anxiety can change depending on how library leaders respond to the threats, she said.
“We’re here to give services to all members of the community, and when we feel threatened by serving a portion of the community, we should know administration has our back in serving that community no matter what happens,” she said.
Chicago Public Library pledging itself as a banned book “sanctuary” may have not helped matter, as it “puts librarians in the crosshairs and doesn’t think about the consequences,” librarian Jo said.
“I feel like it wasn’t well considered in how it makes us a target in this culture war landscape,” Jo says. “We could have done the same work without making that big political show of it.”
In addition to training on safety procedures and improved communication, Beth said she would like to see efforts to educate library workers on the larger conflict around book bans and inclusive programs at libraries to put these threats into context.
“I think there are some of our staff who don’t understand why these things are happening,” she says. “I don’t think it’s enough to have a training of what to do; they need to understand why some of these things are occurring.”
One of the major issues impacting library worker safety is that libraries are “drastically understaffed,” and full staffing or reduced hours are important for safer library spaces, Jo said. Without additional staffing, staff won’t have the bandwidth or enough personnel on the ground to ensure locations remain safe, she said.
“No one can do that when you’re the only reference librarian working in a two-floor building,” Jo said. “The understaffing makes the situation worse.”
Chicagoans can show support for workers by contacting their alderperson to demand additional staffing, reduced hours and changes necessary to avoid hiring delays, librarians said. In addition to advocating for library workers with local elected officials, neighbors can support local library workers by speaking with them about what they need.
“I think one very small thing that people can do is going into the libraries and letting the workers who are very anxious and scared and nervous know that they are supported by their community, and having that little bit of acknowledgment that we know you’re going through something very scary,” Amy said.
Another way to help is to get involved in a local “friends of the library” group.
As one of the largest and most active library booster groups with more than 100 regular members, Friends of the Edgewater Library seeks to supplement the facility and support its staff, Broussard said. The group treats the librarians to lunch during National Library Week and will fundraise to donate books and support facility improvements, including the refurbishment of the library’s teen room and the launch of the Early Learners’ Literacy Nest.
Library workers said having supportive community members physically show up, particularly for programs that may be more likely to be controversial, is beneficial.
“When folks are coming out to speak against things like drag story time, the people who are in support of it need to speak up,” Beth said. “I think when we have people who take an active position and an active voice, it helps tremendously.”
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